Global Courant
Republicans must again decide whether, and how, to defend former President Donald Trump against his legal troubles.
On Friday, the Justice Department unsealed its jam-packed 37 count indictment against Trump, which laid out the US government’s argument that Trump lied, conspired and attempted to hide classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence after he left the White House. had left home. He is the first former US president to face federal charges.
While some Republicans have remained silent — or even condemned Trump’s actions — many have been quick to defend him, often with creative ways to insist that the Justice Department not prosecute the former president.
Trump is charged with violating seven laws and charged with 37 felonies.
Here’s how some in the GOP defend Trump:
The bathroom was safe
Florida Rep. Byron Donald’s: “There are 33 bathrooms at Mar-a-Lago. So don’t pretend it’s just a random bathroom for the guests to enter.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy: “Is it a good picture to have boxes in a garage that opens all the time? A bathroom door is locked.”
The federal indictment alleges Trump stored classified documents in several locations around Mar-a-Lago, including in an office space, his bedroom, and the particularly unconventional storage areas of a bathroom and shower.
The indictment even included a color photo of more than two dozen boxes on the bathroom’s marble floor.
This image, included in the indictment of former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.Justice through AP
And while most bathroom doors lock, they usually lock from the inside.
Trump is not a spy
The WSJ editors: “Arrogance as he was with classified files, Mr. Trump did not accept bribes or betray any secrets to Russia. The FBI recovered the missing documents when it raided Mar-a-Lago, so presumably there are no secret attack plans left for Mr. Trump to show off.”
Fox News host Mark Levin: “There is not a single syllable of evidence here that any information under the Espionage Act has been passed on to spies, enemies or foreign countries – not one.”
sen. Lindsay Graham: “Espionage charges are downright ridiculous. Whether you like Trump or not, he did not commit espionage. He has not distributed, leaked or provided any information to any foreign power or to any news organization to harm this country. He’s not a spy. He paid too much.’
Thirty-one of the 37 charges against Trump stem from the Espionage Act of 1917. The indictment accuses Trump of illegally holding documents detailing some of America’s best-kept secrets and “attempting” to hinder government efforts to recover them , among other charges. .
Covert government spies, such as those in Hollywood thrillers, are charged under the Espionage Act, but so is a person who “willfully retains“national defense information and then fails to return it to government officials when they try to get it back.
Trump could release anything he wanted
representative Bert vanDuyne: “As president, Trump could release anything he wanted.”
Many of the former president’s defenders have maintained that Trump could release everything as president, and Trump himself has claimed that he released the documents.
“You are the President of the United States, you can release by saying it has been released, even by thinking about itTrump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in September 2022.
But the indictment alleges Trump knew his administration was not completing the standard declassification process, and accuses Trump of showing the documents to people without security clearances, including a book author.
“Look, as president I could have declassified it,” Trump was heard saying on a recording. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
What about Biden?
McCarthy: “We have a sitting president who had classified documents dating back decades to his time as vice president and senator. Yet he is now arming the federal government to go after his main political opponent. Where is the equal justice under the law?”
Texas sen. Ted Cruz: “The press is having a field day saying there were documents in a bathroom in Mar-a-Lago. Well, god, last time I checked, Joe Biden had classified documents in an unlocked garage next to his antique Corvette and it’s an absolute double standard.
Some of the former president’s supporters have drawn comparisons between his handling of classified information and President Joe Biden’s, but experts say things are markedly different.
Biden’s lawyers discovered a “small number” of classified documents with secret markings in a closet of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, the president’s special counsel said, and the White House counsel’s office released notified the National Archives the same day.
In the case of Trump, the National Archives informed its staff in May 2021 that some documents appeared to be missing. It wasn’t until January 2022 that Trump and his staff returned 15 boxes of documents to the archives, who found them to contain classified documents. The FBI later obtained information that Trump had more government documents before issuing a subpoena for their return.
An August search of Mar-a-Lago later revealed that more than 100 classified documents were left on the property, eventually leading to the charges against the former president.
Hillary Clinton got off the hook
south carolina Representative Nancy Mace: “Hillary Clinton used a hammer to destroy evidence of a private email server and classified information on that server and was never charged. The same standard should apply to everyone, including Donald Trump.”
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert: “Yesterday Hillary Clinton had the nerve to sell merchandise while gloating over the impeachment of Trump. The two tier justice system in our country is completely out of control. Hillary has committed more crimes than anyone else and here she is selling hats and laughing.”
The FBI spent months investigating Clinton for using a private email server as Secretary of State to determine if she had mishandled classified information.
In 2016, James Comey, who was then director of the FBI, said Clinton was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information, but that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a case against her and that her actions did not reach the level of criminalization or court order.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York in 2022.Seth Wenig / AP file
But Trump has now been accused of mishandling classified documents and hindering the administration’s efforts to retrieve them experts say are more serious crimes than Clinton has ever experienced.
The Biden administration is demanding revenge on Trump
Missouri Sen. Josh Haley: “We are seeing for the first time in American history … a sitting president of the United States trying to throw his opponent in jail.”
Arizona Rep. Andy BiggsWe mourn another example of our government’s arming against its people. We will use every process, every court, every legislature, every state, every local, every vote and every law to restore our nation. We are Americans and we will prevail, God willing.”
Some Trump allies have repeatedly argued that the criminal charges against the former president are evidence that Biden’s Justice Department is prosecuting his main political rival.
Biden, intent on signaling the Justice Department’s alleged independence from politics, has not commented on the charges, and he has also instructed his staff not to speak out publicly against the former president.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed Jack Smith, the former chief prosecutor of the special court in The Hague, as special counsel to lead the two investigations into the former president. He said the move was “in the public interest” because both Trump and Biden are candidates in the next election. Trump called the attorney general’s decision “appalling” and “appalling abuse of power.”
